Regd No:35356/1999 Under Act XXI of 1680
The Society for unity of people.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Press Conference on Air India’s new operational plan, Aviation Turbine Fuel and Service Tax on air travel

Following
is the text of the press statement of Shri Ajit
Singh, Union Minister of Civil Aviation at the Press Conference held here today
on Air India’s new operational plan, Aviation Turbine Fuel and Service Tax on
air travel.

Air India’s New Operational Plan:

“At the
very outset, I would like to place on record my appreciation of the unstinted
support and cooperation, we have received from all our
employees, in particular executive pilots of Air India in maintaining the
flight schedule and running Air India in this difficult time due to pilots’
strike. Though I am trying to convey my gratitude to all employees and
executive pilots personally, I would like to take this opportunity through
media and you all to convey my thanks to all of them for standing by the
airline in the present crisis situation. I would also like to convey my thanks
to Air India management for patiently and firmly dealing with the situation.

“After an
initial disturbance due to misunderstanding arising out of the strike, our
domestic operations have rebounded to the pre-strike situation.Domestic passenger carriage is now 26,000
passengers daily as it was in the first week of May when the strike began.Air India plans to sustain this and make
efforts to improve it.

“Within a
few days of the strike, Air India formulated a Restructured Schedule which
entailed flights to all major destinations except Hong Kong, Osaka, Seoul and
Toronto.Flights have been operating to
New York, Chicago, Frankfurt, Paris, London and Singapore, though with
combination, varied frequency and change of equipment.With intensive use of our resources, Air
India was able to restore Mumbai-London flight from 26th May.

“The
Restructured Schedule has been stabilised and is now
operating smoothly.International
passenger carriage on the Restructured Schedule has gradually increased to
about 11000 passengers daily.

“Air India
now plans to use narrow-bodied aircraft optimally and connect Hong Kong with
A-319 aircraft from the first week of July 2012.This flight will extend its operations to
Seoul and Osaka from 1st of August 2012 thus ensuring regular
services to Hong Kong, Seoul and Osaka.

“Regarding
availability of pilots to restore international operations of Air India
including Delhi-Toronto and Mumbai-Newark, Air India presently have 90 trainee pilots out of which 60 pilots are already
having their training and will be available for regular flying in another
period of 4-5 months. Air India plans to start training of balance 30 pilots
also immediately. Besides Air India has also decided to recruit/hire pilots
from domestic/ international markets. With this the entire original Air India
network of 27 stations shall be not only fully restored but expanded also.

“Air India
plans to expand its network by undertaking a new flight between Delhi-Kuala
Lumpur from 1st of August 2012.This will also help to strengthen Air India’s hub at Delhi.

“Air India
will begin to receive the first of its B-787 aircraft shortly.For the initial period of 6-8 weeks, the
aircraft will be used predominantly on domestic routes to enable faster
training.The first long haul flight to
be operated by B-787 aircraft will be Mumbai-London in August 2012.Australia operations will commence soon
thereafter in August-September 2012.

“As
envisaged in the turn-around plan, we have started bringing systemic reforms in
Air India. The first in line is the implementation of Crew Management System
(CRS) to ensure high levels of safety of operations, meet regulatory
requirements, optimum crew utilisation, bringing
objectivity in crew management and achieving crew satisfaction. You may be
aware that presently crew management is done by a manual system. The first
phase of CMS is already implemented and second phase would be completed by
early July, 2012.

“We are
also bringing a new and objective examination system for in-service pilots in
place of the existing system in which there will also be a provision of appeal.

Aviation Turbine Fuel (A.T.F.)

“Cost of ATF constitutes approximately
40% – 50% of the operational expenses of airlines in India.

“Average
ATF price at major airports in India is significantly higher than prices in
other hubs such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, London, Abu
Dhabi

“India’s
airlines are extremely sensitive to the price of ATF as it adversely affects
the viability of air transport operations in the country.

“Expert
agency commissioned by MoCA to study the ATF market
attribute following reasons for high ATF prices:

§High taxation regime particularly ad valorem VAT levied by States (ranges from 20% to 30% for
most states)

§Lack of effective competition in the
ATF market in India- Oil Marketing PSUs maintain
ownership of and control access to this infrastructure,

“Expert
report has recommended a slew of reforms to promote competition and bring in
transparency and these include:

§Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
to bring ATF under Petroleum &Natural Gas Regulatory Board’s regulatory
scope by notifying the product so that PNGRB could take action to protect
user/consumer interest.

§All ATF related infrastructure outside
airports viz: pipelines as well as connecting and
intermediate storage infrastructure will have to be regulated by the PNGRB to
enable open access to all ATF suppliers within the ATF market

Service Tax on
Air Travel

“India amongst few
countries in the world that levy service tax on air tickets.Levying of this tax has hampered recovery of air traffic
growth and profitability in Indian aviation industry.

“Service tax during the financial
year 2012-13 on transport of passenger by air has been increased 4 times and
now the service tax is levied upon 40% of gross ticket value (earlier it used
to be service tax on 10% of gross ticket value or Rs.100 per journey whichever
is lower for domestic passengers travelling by any
class and 10% of gross ticket value or Rs.500 per journey whichever is lower).

“This changeover to ad-valorem rate of taxation without having any maximum cap is
a retrograde step particularly at a time when we are advocating specific lower
rate of duty for VAT on ATF by the States.

“The above increase in the service
tax would make the air travel costlier. A 10% rise in the price reduces the
demand for domestic air traffic travel by about 12% as per the price elasticity
of demand calculations. This would definitely spell more trouble for the airline
companies which are already reeling under tremendous stress due to existing
unviable operating environment.

“I have requested Hon’ble Finance Minister to revert back to the earlier rate
of service tax on domestic as well as international tickets”.

The European Central Bank says it will keep its benchmark interest rate at the current 1 percent, a record low.

The bank's policymakers decided to maintain the rate for a 6th straight
month at a board meeting on Wednesday, at its headquarters in Frankfurt,
Germany.

The central bank is faced with growing calls for new steps to counter
declines in stock prices and in the euro amid concerns over a new
parliamentary election in Greece and the financial strength of Spanish
banks.

Spain to ask for help from European institutions to shore up
its financial system. The country has been trying to recapitalize its
banks with limited public funds.Spanish Treasury Minister Cristobal Montoro said on Tuesday that it's
difficult for the country to raise funds in the market with interest
rates on its bonds now above 6 percent.

Montoro then hinted that Spain may seek help from the bailout funds set up by eurozone members.
He said the key to successful reform of Spain's banks lies in the hands of European institutions.

AS IT completes three years into its second
term, the UPA government is facing a barrage of criticism. It is
blamed for a series of corruption scandals and a virtual paralysis
in decision making.

It is also said that having ridden a wave of
economic growth in its first term, the government has frittered the
opportunity to carry out second generation economic reforms that
would have sustained the previous decades growth.

In so far as corruption is concerned, it is
not as if the government has not reacted to it. Ministers and civil
servants have been jailed, and a plethora of criminal cases and
continued investigations into different scams are indicative of the
intent to contain dishonesty. The flip side, however, is that
government action to fight corruption is a blip on the numerous
types of corruption that engulf Indian society.

Disparities

The purpose of this piece, however, is not to
focus on corruption but to examine the issue of stalled economic
reforms and question todays fashionable development paradigm. People
of my generation have witnessed the growth of the 50s and 60s. We
have also participated in implementing reforms following the
liberalisation phase introduced by then Prime Minister Narasimha
Rao. We have heard praise of the post 90s progress and criticism of
the Nehruvian period as a time that restricted and restrained
growth.

Since the 90s we have also noted the sharp
increase in liquidity in middle class India, the buying and selling
of cars, white goods, houses etc. The very rich have never had it so
good. Luxury hotels, private hospitals, private airlines, luxury
foreign travel have become the norm of the day. The overarching
impression among rich Indians and often among foreigners has been
that India is marching ahead and may soon catch up with the Peoples
Republic of China.

The problem is that the façade continues to
hide the truth. As Amartya Sen has said, the world in which we live
is both remarkably comfortable and thoroughly miserable. And so in
India, on one side we see enormous wealth and its vulgar display,
but on the other side, there is extreme poverty and the gulf between
the rich and the poor seems only to be increasing. As rich India has
progressed, the bulk of urban and rural India has seen distressing
times. Along with the fashionable hotels, malls and residences,
there is the face of the poor and the voiceless.

Their lives see the other side of existence
with fast vanishing infrastructural support.

Government hospitals are run down, the
doctors are hard pressed and harassed under the sheer weight of
patient load and non- availability of basic wherewithal. Mohallas
fight for electricity and drinking water. Sewage systems in
overcrowded colonies are collapsing under pressure and the residents
are faced with poor health, lack of employment opportunity and over-
population.

Young girls, ill clad and ill fed, perform
acrobatics on roads even as BMWs wait in queues to enter five star
hotels.

Villages face the brunt of all that is wrong.
The traditional revenue administration barely delivers, rural health
systems are in a shambles, schools neither have satisfactory
buildings nor good teachers. A posting in the muffassil is true
punishment, a threat constantly held out to public
servants.

Economy

Unfortunately the debate in the public
domain, in fashionable drawing rooms, in the print and TV media
largely focuses on the slackening of economic and financial reforms.
The belief is that economic reforms and the deepening of financial
markets are the elixir of life and the panacea for all our ills. We
were given to believe that there would be a trickle down effect, and
the benefits of economic growth would slowly but surely reach the
poor. Where are the so- called benefits of the trickle down? How
long do we wait for it to impact? Jawaharlal Nehru said that the
forces in a capitalist society, if left unchecked, tend to make the
rich richer and the poor poorest. This indeed is what we see now.
Avarice and greed is the mantra, and the expression corporate social
responsibility is nothing but fashionable words spoken disdainfully
and rarely respected. We should carefully examine how big businesses
have assiduously exploited India’s resources, often wasting and
losing them, and despite this continue to successfully lay the blame
on the Government and the public sector for all that is
wrong.

Paradigm

Governments over the past five decades have
introduced a plethora of schemes that focus on the rural poor.
Despite complaints of corruption, these schemes do provide periods
of employment. But permanent and sustainable assets are not created.
The poor need better quality and sustainable infrastructure, not
periodic employment with inferior and temporary assets to satisfy a
political constituency.

They need heavy investments in health, food,
roads, education and above all governments that realise that India
lives in rural areas and the bulk of India is entitled to
sensitivity and respect.

The collapse of Soviet Russia made economic
liberalisation the Holy Grail for developing economies. Hopefully
with the problems within the so called successful European economies
coming to the fore, we may understand that the path ahead is not
about an either/ or choice but perhaps a mix between laissez faire
and a controlled economy. Therefore the debate must shift from quick
and further liberalisation to a new structure that will be more
inclusive and sensitive. The people of India have a great deal of
patience, and it is indeed being tested to its fullest. Is it
endless?

In
French Open Tennis, the Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza
and the Indo-Russian pair of Leander Paes and Elena Vesnina will play
their Mixed Doubles semifinal matches in Paris today.

For a
place in the finals, seventh seeded Bhupathi and Sania are scheduled to
take on Italy’s Danielle Bracialli and his partner from Kazakhstan
Galina Voskoboeva, while fifth seeds Paes and Vesnina will clash with
the Mexican-Polish pair of Santiago Gonzalez and Klaudia Jans-Ignacik.

Earlier,
the Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza had also made it to
the Mixed Doubles last four, after defeating the American-Czech duo of
Mike Bryan and Kveta Peschke, 6-2, 6-3.

In yesterday’s other
results, Serbia’s World Number One Novak Djokovic and Swiss Roger
Federer booked the Men’s Singles semi-final berths. Today, second seeded
Spaniard Rafael Nadal and Briton Andy Murray will slug it out for the
remaining two Men’s Singles semi-final slots.

In Women’s Singles,
Australia’s Samantha Stosur and Sara Errani of Italy made it to the
last four stage. Second seeded Russian Maria Sharapova and Czech Petra
Kvitova are slated to play their Women’s Singles quarterfinal matches
today.

The event was visible at around 7 am.
Large projectors, pin hole cameras and telescopes were set up to help
people see the celestial event unfold at the Planetarium, where a large
number of people had gathered to see the rare event.

"The
next Venus transit will happen after 105.5 years in 2117, making this a
lifetime's event," says C B Devgun, Director, Science Popularisation
Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE).

From
the Earth, this phenomenon is seen when the Venus passes between the
Sun and the Earth. It occurs in intervals of 8, 121, 8 and 105 years,
Devgun said.

The last Transit of Venus occurred on June 8, 2004 and was visible across India.

External Affairs
Minister S. M. Krishna held a meeting with Chinese Vice Premier Li
Kaqiang on Wednesday and discussed bilateral relations with the leader,
who is tipped to become the Prime Minister of China next year.

Welcoming
Krishna at the Great Hall of People, Li said though Krishna's visit was
intended to take part in the Shanghai Cooperation Organistion summit
(SCO) being held in Beijing, it provided an opportunity to discuss
bilateral ties.

This is an important opportunity to enhance the relations, he said after the meeting that lasted 45 minutes.

Reciprocating the sentiments, Krishna recalled the recent visit of President Hu Jintao to New Delhi to take part in the BRICS summit and the positive momentum it had helped maintain in bilateral ties.

Former Telecom Minister and key accused in the 2G scam case, A. Raja, was allowed by a Delhi court to visit his home state Tamil Nadu between 8th June and 30th June.

Raja
had moved the plea seeking permission to visit Tamil Nadu as the court,
while granting him bail on 15th May, had imposed certain conditions,
including that he would not visit his home state without its prior
permission.

Special
CBI Judge O P Saini allowed the plea in which the DMK MP had said that
he had not visited Tamil Nadu for the last over one-and-a half year.

Raja
had sought court's permission also on the ground that the trial
proceedings would not be undertaken from 9th June to 30th June owing to
summer vacation.

"A
Raja is allowed to visit his home state Tamil Nadu from June 8 to June
30 subject to conditions as were imposed upon him in the bail order
dated May 15," the judge said.

The
DMK MP was granted bail by the court holding that his further detention
would not serve any purpose as all the other 13 co-accused are already
out on bail.

The
court had imposed several conditions on Raja including a ban on his
visit to Tamil Nadu as well as the Department of Telecom (DoT) which he
presided over as minister for over three years.

The
court had directed Raja not to make any inducement, threat or promise,
either directly or indirectly, to any person acquainted with the case.

It
also asked Raja to surrender his passport with it and said he should
remain present before it during the hearing. The court while enlarging
Raja on bail had directed him to furnish a personal bond of Rs 20 lakh
with two sureties of the like amount.

The
court had said that if Raja wants to remain absent during the hearing,
he will have to take its prior permission and in case of "unavoidable
circumstances", he shall immediately give intimation to the court and
the CBI about it.

Arrested
by the CBI on February 2 last year, 49-year-old Raja, the main accused
in the Rs 30,000 crore 2G scam had moved his first bail application only
after all the other co- accused were granted bail in the case.

Raja
had sought bail, saying the Supreme Court, while granting bail to
former Telecom Secretary Siddharth Behura, had not distinguished the
case of public servant from others. He had submitted that he and Behura
were facing similar charges of abatement, conspiracy and criminal breach
of trust.

Raja
and others have been charged with the offences of cheating, forgery,
criminal conspiracy and corruption besides criminal breach of trust that
entails a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

India on Wednesday
successfully test fired its indigenously developed surface-to-air
'Akash' missile of Air Force version from the Integrated Test Range at
Chandipur near Balasore, Odisha, the fifth trial of the anti-aircraft
system in the last fortnight.

"The
Air Force version of Akash missile was test-fired from the ITR. The
trial was successful and met all the mission objectives," a senior
defence official said.

The
anti-aircraft missile, with a strike range of 25 km and capable of
carrying warhead of 60 kg, was test fired from a mobile launcher at
launch complex-III of the ITR.

The
trial, which formed part of the country's routine air defence
exercises, was conducted at 0757 hrs, an official of Defence Research
Development Organisation (DRDO) associated with the Akash missile
project said.

To
re-validate the technology and operational efficacy of the missile,
defence forces conducted the trial with logistic support provided by the
ITR, the official said.

The Akash weapon system, which has its Army version too, was inducted into the armed forces in 2008.

Wednesday's test-fire came after similar trials conducted from the same test range on May 24, 26, 28 and June 1.

On June 1, two Air force version of Akash missiles had been test fired successfully in quick succession, the official said.

"During
the trial, the sophisticated missile was aimed at intercepting floating
object supported by a pilotless target aircraft at a definite altitude
over the sea," defence sources said.

INVITATION

EBTC Biotechnology Mission 2012

Dear Sir/Madam,

It is with great pleasure
that we at the European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC) invite you
to participate in an exciting two-part biotechnology mission - the
EBTC Biotechnology Mission 2012. With a focus on various biotech
subsectors, emerging trends, challenges and policy frameworks, the
mission showcase interesting, relevant and ready-to-go opportunities in
the Biotechnology sector in India, and encourage
EU-India collaboration.

Register online at
http://www.b2match.com/biotechfm2012and meet virtually
with European counterparts from the sector. The virtual matchmaking will
allow you to explore potential private and public opportunities without
the need
to invest major financial resources for first contacts.

The mission enables you to
virtually interact with European businesses and researchers, and
explore possible collaborations; joint ventures; technology development /
transfer, and
clinical trials covering research organizations, industries and public
or private funding organizations – all in a virtual set up.

Part 2 – ‘EBTC Business & Research Delegation to India’ (5th-9th November 2012, Bengaluru)

With time to develop
relationships and advance agreements virtually, part 2 of the mission
‘will allow you to meet your prospective European counterparts in
person, and will be the
perfect occasion to cement relationships.

This event is open to any
Indian organization / individual interested in growing and flourishing
in the biotech sector. Be it a small medium sized enterprise (SME’s) or
research Institution,
the event ensures a mix of interesting professionals from both the EU
and India.

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